Fated to Die to the Player, I'll Live Freely with My SSS-Class Ship!-Chapter 66: Distant Rumbling

The Great Spiral Galaxy, Astoraxia.

It was the largest known galaxy in the entire explored universe, spanning a staggering 40 million light-years in diameter. Among the 900 trillion stars within its vast domain, 25% boasted planetary systems—a percentage unmatched by any other galaxy.

Long story short, Astoraxia was the richest galaxy in existence.

And naturally, the one who ruled over such a grand domain had to be someone of immeasurable wealth and unparalleled power.

In this case, that entity was none other than the Astoria Conglomerate—the greatest corporate empire in the entire explored universe. Just hearing the name Astoria was enough to make anyone think of immense riches and absolute influence.

That was our next destination.

To be specific, we were headed to the Houro Star System—a system located near the core of Astoraxia and the main stage for the events of Chapters 8 - 10.

That was where the Astoria family resided.

"And to get there, we first need to pass through another wormhole," I explained.

This time, however, we wouldn’t need a semi-private route—as there was a public wormhole, used by hundreds of thousands of civilians daily. A passage that was completely free of charge, thanks to the Astoria Conglomerate’s so-called "big heart."

This content is taken from fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm.

"But those bastards know you’re an Astoria too, right?" Eva grumbled, raising the obvious issue. "Wouldn’t they just go ahead of us and set up a blockade to catch us?"

She had a point.

This kind of tactic was common among the wealthy and powerful—especially among the Astorias themselves.

Back when I played TSO, one of the first problems the player faced in the Astoraxia Arc was figuring out how to enter the "enemy’s base" without getting caught.

Of course, the answer was obvious.

"We’ll just use a wormhole that’s not monitored," I said with a smirk.

The universe was vast. There was no way they could track every single wormhole that popped up. After all, natural wormholes appeared and vanished at random intervals, and only those that were stabilized into stargates remained semi-permanent.

And as a player, I already knew where one such hidden wormhole was.

"But to get there..." I sighed, checking the colorful star map, "we first need to return to the main universe."

If we tried to fly there using thrusters alone—without jump drives or hyperspace travel—even at maximum overdrive, it would take us years to get there.

That meant we had to find a safe place to exit World-One and initiate a space jump before the enemy could pinpoint our location.

"I... think it’ll be difficult," Cassandra interjected, her pink lips curling into a frown. "I know my father. He won’t let us use jump drives so easily. He’ll jam them."

Her guess was solid.

King Meyers would definitely scatter his forces, setting up a "jump net" to disable any warp attempts.

Sure, it would inconvenience hundreds of thousands of civilians—but why would royalty care?

"I concur," Eva added, crossing her arms.

Looking at the heatmap algorithm she had created, I noticed how the green zones kept expanding outward, ensuring that no matter where we exited, we’d still be within range of their net.

"...So, in short," I muttered, piecing it together, "when we return to the main universe and try to jump, we’ll get intercepted mid-way and forced into battle?"

Then, I turned to Eva, tilting my head slightly.

"Does that... really sound different from our usual experience?"

"..."

At that moment, she pouted, her lips puckering like she had just bitten into a lemon.

Of course, it wasn’t any different.

Our jump travels had never been peaceful. Ever since I woke up in this world, every single time we attempted a jump, something always went wrong. The only time we had an uninterrupted journey was when Cassandra first joined us.

Otherwise?

We couldn’t even complete one jump without making dozens of stops along the way—for one reason or another.

The only difference this time was that our enemies were organized military forces instead of random space pirates.

It was troublesome, sure. But it wasn’t anything we couldn’t handle—as long as they weren’t too tightly packed together, or in great numbers.

A grin crept across my lips. A strategy was already forming in my mind.

"Alright, listen up," I said, clapping my hands to get their attention.

"Here’s the plan..."

---

20 hours after switching over to World-One, it was finally time for us to make our move.

What? We took our sweet time? Well, of course, we did. Why rush when we could stall for time and rest instead?

That said, I hadn’t exactly been slacking off. The past 20 hours had been spent fixing this and that, adjusting systems, and making sure everything was in top condition—only sparing about four hours for sleep. But that should be good enough.

Meanwhile, in World-Zero, a full galactic day should have passed by now.

By now, King Meyers’ soldiers would, without a doubt, be showing openings—whether from fatigue or just minor lapses in judgment.

That was the advantage of holding the initiative. We could choose when to appear, while the enemy had to stay on edge the entire time!

Of course, we could have waited longer—giving them even more time to tire out. But doing so carried the risk of reinforcements arriving.

Thus, the 50-hour time limit had been set—long enough to drain them, but short enough to keep additional forces from showing up.

"Alright, Cassandra. Open the path!"

"G-Got it!"

With lightly trembling fingers, Cassandra held the glass-like key and pushed it forward—twisting it clockwise, as if unlocking a door.

A moment later, a gigantic purple rift appeared before us, arcing with white sparks and unstable, flickering lighting—more intense than usual.

Seeing this, I frowned.

’The rift... it’s becoming more unstable the more we use it?’

That was the conclusion I immediately came to. If this was true, at this rate, we should only rely on the key during absolute emergencies.

"Rift stability at 70%... It’s not increasing beyond that," Eva muttered, reading the sensor data. Her voice carried a hint of doubt—she must have noticed the slow degradation as well.

Taking a deep breath, I gave the order.

"Alright. Prepare for space jump as soon as we reach the other side!"

I stepped on the pedals, pushing the Range Falcon forward at a steady pace.

As we entered the rift, the entire ship trembled—almost as if we were under attack from every direction at once.

The three of us were already braced for it, having experienced it several times before. After a nerve-wracking 15 seconds, we finally emerged on the other side.

We were back in World-Zero!

The moment we arrived, the Dark Energy Repulsion engine roared to life, bringing power output back to 100%. A smirk crept onto my lips as I quickly issued the next command.

"Percy! Prepare for Space Jump! Target is Point Alpha on the Star Map!"

[Command received. Waypoint set to Calumet Star System, Narlia Commercial Hub. Starting Jump Drives...]

The countdown began.

Sixty seconds.

Thankfully, just as Eva’s algorithm had predicted, the immediate area was clear. No enemy ships in sight, as such, we could relax slightly.

Time ticked down second by second—until, finally, the Jump Drives finished charging.

The thrusters roared to life as we accelerated into Hyperspace Travel.

Everything was going exactly as planned.

Our green dot on the star map quickly streaked toward the edge of the "safe zone."

"Alright, brace for impact...!" I warned, gripping the controls—right before the ship was forcefully yanked out of Jump Travel.

Just as we expected.

Eva wasted no time, scanning the radars. "Jump Drives jammed! Enemies inbound! Numbers: 20!"

"... Just twenty?" I scoffed.

Sure, they were all warship-class and above, but 20 vessels? That was nothing!

"They’re either spread too thin... or they’re seriously underestimating me."

I wasted no time giving commands.

"Percy! Switch to Full Manual Control! Eva! Monitor the sensors and shields—report any changes! Cassandra! As planned, tap into the enemy’s comms and report their strategy!"

Everyone moved exactly as discussed.

With Full Manual Control, the Range Falcon’s navigation, weapons, and defense systems were all switched to manual operation.

This allowed me to pull off high-level maneuvers—but only the top 10 players would even dare to fly like this.

Meanwhile, Cassandra ran the hacking program I made, letting us eavesdrop on enemy comms. Since listening in using loudspeakers could cause distractions instead, she’d only report key information while using headphones to listen to their conversation.

As for Eva, she was monitoring multiple sensor feeds at once—updating our targeting systems and adjusting data in real-time.

Her hands moved so fast that they were almost a blur.

But I wouldn’t lose in hand speed either.

"Alright... Let’s dance!"

Gripping the levers, I jerked them hard, tilting the Falcon into a sideway drift—dodging a flurry of incoming laser fire.

In response, I fired a volley of missiles—but they weren’t meant to hit.

Midway, they detonated—scattering a dense cloud of glass-like particles.

These weren’t ordinary particles. When struck by light—or lasers—they reflected it right back toward its point of origin.

Several enemy ships failed to realize this and fired blindly—only to have their own attacks bounce back, destroying their turrets, and detonating right in their faces.

Within seconds, their main firepower was crippled.

With their lasers useless, they were forced to rely on railguns and missiles—but that wasn’t the main reason I had deployed the cloud.

"Hahahaha!"

With a wild laugh, I plunged straight through my own cloud—using it as cover.

Before they could react, I charged the Brionac to full power and fired.

A prismatic energy beam lanced through space, striking the largest enemy vessel—a War Cruiser.

Its shields held for only a moment before collapsing entirely.

The Brionac punched a hole through the entire ship—from bow to stern.

Moments later—

*BOOM!*

The War Cruiser erupted in a massive explosion—brief but tragic.

"One down!" I grinned. "Eleven more to go!"

The battle—no, the massacre—was just beginning.